Looking on the Bright Side

I've discovered a silver lining in my hated bakery job! It's great for my stomach muscles!

Last year this time I was working as a dishwasher, which was great for my abs. I had to lift down 20 lb trays of bar glasses from a high shelf and carry those heavy trays across the room and carry stacks of heavy plates across the room and reach up to place them on a high shelf, etc. My stomach muscles were T.O.N.E.D.!

Then I moved here to the mainland. All my jobs since moving here last September have been easier (labour wise) than my previous jobs. At Sears, at Taylors, at the Real Estate office ... I was run off my feet but I didn't get any real workout. The rest of me was still in great shape, because of yoga, and all the walking I do - it's nothing for me to walk for an hour or two, to get to a place, and then back again carrying heavy bags - but, I was sad to see, my abs were not quite what they used to be.

But ... tada! They're back! Working in the bakery, I have to lift heavy pans and carry them across to the sink and manhandle the bread laden trolley into the freezer and mop the store and carry stacks of 8 chairs at once and stack two tables atop each other and carry them and ... well as I said, my abs are back! Hooray! It didn't even take long. I've been working there for, what is it now, a month and a half? Something like that? My stomach is toned again Hooray!

I'm still looking forward to the day when I can quit this job in favour of a wonderful secretarial job in an office, but, now that I've noticed this silver lining, I will be more grateful.

Or at least I'll try.

The job really sucks big time. My boss is actually quite a friendly guy, he has a good sense of humour and when I've happened to bump into him around town, he stopped to talk to me and was very friendly. But he's a slave driver!

At the bakery, we do all the usual bakery stuff - fresh bread is made every morning, and pies and cakes of all kinds, and pastries. Along with this we make specialty sandwiches and soup. I work mostly in the front behind the counter, occasionally I get asked to work in the back where I roll out dough and press out pie shells. We have a seating area where people can eat their sandwiches, and a few tables and chairs outside.

We get phone-in orders for sandwich trays - people want them for their office meetings, or for funerals, etc. Some of these orders are HUGE! It isn't unusual for an order to be for 300 sandwiches, all to be made in an hour or two, while we're trying to do our other jobs. We make a variety of five or six different types, and cut them into quarters held together with fancy toothpicks. All the sandwiches are arranged on round trays with a little cup of pickles and olives in the center. Meanwhile, customers are coming in, so we have to make their sandwiches immediately while they wait. We're all rushing around, bumping into each other, trying to find room on the narrow sandwich counter, running out of ingredients and quickly whipping up more, mashing a bowl full of two dozen eggs, slicing meat and cheese and bread, the butter is melting, the toast is burning.... Most of the customers are very nice, elderly folks. But some of them are unbelievably annoying.

My co workers are very nice, I get along with them well, except for one who is so bossy I want to rip her face off. She's like this with everyone, it isn't a personal thing against me, still, I want to rip her face off. She's very strange looking - a large girl with a fatty neck and a low forehead. From the back her head looks much too small for her body. From the front, you realise that her face is the correct size, it's her forehead that is out of whack. Her hairline begins low down, and her head is flat on top, so that you can't see any hair, it's just forehead, and then the head stops. Kinda like a caveman/woman/person/whatever. I mostly ignore her. When she orders me to do something, I pretend I don't hear. But when she barges up to interrupt me while I'm taking care of a customer, I speak my mind. It's a fine line - I don't want to appear that I'm fighting in front of customers (lol) - on the other hand, I refuse to let her get away with giving the customers the impression I don't know how to help them. It's a huge pain, and my patience is worn thin with her.

My boss, although a friendly enough person, is another pain in the ass. While he himself commits incredible attrocities (using rotten berries in the pies, eating over the customer's food so that crumbs drop from his mouth into their food, smoking while he makes the pies so that the lit cigerette hangs over the pies, picking up food that had dropped on the floor, and mixing it back in with the rest....), he demands that the rest of us work double time to keep the place clean. He makes us stay late, to mop the floor a second time. He comes back to the bakery just as we're about to leave after a long 8 1/2 hour shift, and piles on more jobs. Did I mention that it's boiling hot in the bakery?! So hot, I can feel sweat running down my back all day. For all of this, we get paid minimum wage, and we get docked in pay if we take a break. As I said, the job sucks.

I'm scanning the paper every day, for office jobs. Unfortunately there aren't very many, but I did apply for one today by mail. Wish me luck!

Meanwhile, I will keep reminding myself of the good things, such as ... sometimes I get to write on cakes, with icing ... and, um ... at least I'm not unemployed ... and, um ... hmmm ... oh ya, my abs are back! My stomach is T.O.N.E.D. again! Yeah!